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September 7, 2002 -
Saturday
A Honolulu attorney and visitor to this site
added his comments on Thursday's candidate debate:
Your take on the debate was interesting. My
impression was very different, however. I agreed with
the majority of viewers (at least according to the
poll results you cited) that Ed Case was the winner of
the debate. I also disagree that Greg Takayama
"earned top marks." His aggressive, pointed questions
to Ed Case and softball questions to Mazie Hirono
showed that he personally is biased in Mazie's favor.
He had "sharp follow up questions" only for the
candidate he disagreed with. In my view, that is not
appropriate. I found Bill Brennan's approach more
balanced and his questions fairer and more specific
and definite.
Just a few more words on the debate. The newspapers
didn't mention the button displayed prominently on the
lapel of Andy Anderson's suit, although you can see it in
the Advertiser
photo. It was the button worn by the supporters of
the Queen Liliuokalani Trust in their effort to kill a
leasehold conversion bill now before the City Council.
"Protect Hawaiian Land Rights" is the message. It was a
bold move by Anderson to signal his position on Hawaiian
issues and pitch for those crucial Hawaiian votes.
And I have to give Ed
Case's campaign credit for getting the debate noted
prominently on its web site within hours. Hirono's
site doesn't appear to mention the debate. And
Anderson's web
presence seems to have been largely stagnant for
months.
Changing gears: There should be some assessment of
prior reporting now that DNA evidence has forced
the release of a former Kaneohe Marine charged with a
27-year old murder. Did prior reporting add up to a
public perception of guilt? It will be interesting to
look back now that we have this unexpected outcome.
September 6, 2002 - Friday
KHON reporter Gregg Takayama earned top marks
last night for his sharp questioning during the televised
debate between the three major Democratic candidates
vying for the governor's job. His questions left
candidates little wiggle room, and he pursued with sharp
follow-up questions. Great job.
But you wouldn't know reporters were part of the mix
if you happened to read about the debate in today's
Advertiser. The 'Tiser provides lots of detail about
the exchanges between candidates, but doesn't mention
sponsor KHON (except in a photo credit) or give any
credit for the questioning by Takayama and Bill
Brennan.
By the way, I thought Ed Case was the clear loser in
the exchange. He had a difficult time defending his
record and his lack of experience showed. Andy Anderson
made a very good impression. His response to a question
on gambling was as direct as I've seen. "This is a
gambling state," Andy said, ticking off the most popular
forms of local gambling. And Lt. Gov. Hirono shined in
spots when she broke away from her script and responded
directly to criticism.
But KHON viewers apparently saw it differently, or
perhaps Case backers were more organized. Here's how the
late night news on KHON described viewer response:
NOW JUST TO LET YOU KNOW WHAT OUR VIEWERS
THOUGHT OF THEIR PERFORMANCE TONIGHT. WE GAVE THEM A
NUMBER TO CALL IN TO GAUGE EACH CANDIDATES
PERFORMANCE. AND WITH OVER 10-THOUSAND CALLS COMING
IN...ED CASE CAME OUT ON TOP WITH 41 PERCENT. ANDY
ANDERSON WAS SECOND WITH 32 PERCENT AND MAZIE HIRONO
TOOK 27 PERCENT OF THE VOTE.
Go figure!
September 5, 2002 -
Thursday
Further comment on the dock negotiations, this
time from a labor historian and longtime observer:
Your correspondent makes one large error in
an otherwise good analysis of the current dispute. The
strategy of the big shipping lines overlooks the fact
that the ILWU has made strong connections with the ILA
on the east and gulf coasts, particularly since the
Charleston Five mess of a year ago. ILWU support of
those ILA members is strongly remembered. Likewise,
Japanese longshoremen have a close connection with the
ILWU, as do the major European ports. In the event of
a lockout, this strategy will likely backfire. The PMA
drive to break up the ILWU will meet a fierce
resistance World-Wide.
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Here's a shameless plug for Meda's new book,
"Invisible Punishment: The Collateral
Consequences of Mass Imprisonment."
"Official" publication date is next month,
but the first copies were just delivered to the
editors.
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Click here for more
information
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September 4, 2002 -
Wednesday
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The big news from yesterday's morning walk
was Ms. Lucy's puppies. The little Shih Tsu is
one of our regular morning dogs, so we were
thrilled to get the word that she chose Labor
Day to deliver four beautiful puppies. The young
mother and her pups appeared to be doing fine,
although Lucy's people were a bit frazzled by
the experience.
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A former islander now on the West Coast reports an
interesting interpretation of dock negotiations based on
scuttlebutt among shipping company employees.
One angle that was not mentioned is that
there is a possible counter strategy the large
carriers are contemplating. Some think that large
shipping companies (Maersk Sealand, APL, Hyundai,
Evergreen, etc.) actually want a short port shutdown
to happen for three reasons:
- to show the ILWU that shipping lines are not
afraid of a shutdown scenario -- now or in the
future
- to put extra financial strain on the small,
upstart shipping lines (Trans-Pacific Lines, China
Shipping and others) that are rapidly grabbing market
share. The large carriers believe a port strike can
cripple these smaller carriers and even put one or two
out of business. The large carriers have the resources
to weather a strike for an extended period.
- to prove to customers that using these small
carriers is a risk in the event of a disruption such
as a strike. The large carriers have other options
(all-water routes to/from East Coast, Canadian and US
Gulf port calls) and once strike is over, can quickly
recover. Small carriers do not.
Many customers have defected to these small
carriers to save money, and this could show them it's
a risky decision.
Very interesting. I guess we'd better check the t.p.
supply and pick up another bag of rice.
September 3, 2002 -
Tuesday
I worried about pronouncing the AM/PM debate
over and, sure enough, here's another contribution in
reaction to the comment appearing here on Sunday:
I'm happy to observe the conversations and
opinions on your site. Visit nearly every day. But
when it comes to the strong innuendo associated with
your reader's comments on the 'Tisers PM circulation,
I say this:
The most recent ABC Audit came through clean,
meaning 100% of the 'Tiser's stated circulation came
through as verified, paid circulation. Period. One
must remember how damn tight Gannett is, to wit, why
in hell would they waste money printing so many extra
papers? If anything they'll get people to pay an
introductory price but as far as sampling free papers?
I just doubt it. Even if they do sample papers, I
question the source's access to print runs vs actual
paid subscriptions.
Again, your site is for commentary and opinions,
and thus this writer played fair. My response is
simply to provide perspective and to challenge the
reader to question facts unless they are sourced.
Thanks for listening!
A couple of articles worth reading this morning. From
the Seattle Times, an
analysis of the ILWU's West Coast dock negotiations
by a University of Washington professor. And from the
Guardian, a deeply
disturbing assessment of the strategic views of the
conservatives in control of the White House view of
foreign policy.
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And on the lighter side, I managed a new
round of Kaaawa cat photos, which you can reach
by clicking on this shot of Ms. Harry, or on the
"cats, cats, cats" banner to the right.
And I started to compile an index
of earlier cat photo collections to
facilitate browsing.
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September 2, 2002 - Monday
Happy Labor Day, folks.
I finally have the proper analogy to convey the
underlying concern about UH President Dobelle's hiring of
his friend from Trinity College as his special advisor on
Asia matters. Forget the questions about pay and perks.
This is the core issue.
It's as if Ford hired a new CEO and President to
reinvigorate its business and rebuild its reputation for
excellence in the automotive world, but the CEO drives to
all his appointments in a new Chevy he bought for himself
and, when questioned, says he needs a well made car that
he's personally comfortable with. His behavior undercuts
and contradicts the message he's paid to deliver, just as
Dobelle's reliance on an Asia specialist from Trinity
undercuts his message about UH as a center for Asian
studies.
In my humble opinion, of course.
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Here's our latest auction find. The cat
painting, that is, not Mr. Duke, the cat.
It's a little watercolor by Bertram Hartman,
a NY artist who died in 1960.
We just liked the painting, and got it for a
very reasonable price. Later we found a bit of
background on the artist, reprinted below.
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Click
here for a closer look
at the painting
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This biography from the archives of AskART.com.
Born in Junction City, Kansas, he was a painter who
studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Royal
Academy in Munich, and in Paris.
In 1916, he wandered through and painted Canyon de
Chelly in Arizona and returned again in 1917. Three of
his paintings from this time are in the collection at
Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado. Their style,emotive
with bright color, suggests early modernism influenced
by Fauvism. He was a member of the Chicago Society of
Artists, the American Watercolor Society, and the
Mural Painters of America. A long-time resident of New
York City, he was represented there by the Montross
Gallery.
September 1, 2002 - Sunday
They may not be the last words, but the latest
on the AM/PM issue came yesterday in comments from two
readers. First, from Honolulu:
Aloha
I would also like to remind you and the readers of
your website that the Gannett prints 25K copies of
their PM for about 2,500. That's two thousand five
hundred PAID subscribers. The rest go to FREE
INTRODUCTORY deliveries (like my mom in Manoa, heck
you don't think she'd pay for it do you) and the
street hawkers.
As far as the 'Tiser blinking first and withdrawing
their PM offering, one can only hope. But then again
Editor Jim Kelly has often been heard grousing that he
edited/worked for the smallest PM daily in the Gannett
chain. HAH!
So much for life during (newspaper) wartime.
Finally, from Ray in Wisconsin, who describes the
transition of the Green Bay Press Gazette from an
afternoon to a morning paper:
After seeing the comments about the
Advertiser's PM edition, I thought I'd let you know
how things went here.
In our case, the Gannett-owned Press Gazette was
the PM paper, we were the AM. They were successful in
being a PM for several reasons: smaller market, a
heavy early-shift work force (6 a.m. starts at the
paper mills), their tradition of being the only paper
in town, and so on. We had the AM advantage as Green
Bay was shifting from industrial to service
economy.
A few years ago, the P-G started doing an early
edition for street sale before noon to catch the lunch
crowd. It then went mornings but not for Green Bay,
only for the outlying area (the P-G is more regional
than we are and covers a big chunk north almost to the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan). Finally, about a year
and a half ago, it went mornings in the Green Bay
metro area and now only issues Web updates. So it was
a multiyear process for them.
And local scribe Alex
Salkever sent over a note disagreeing with my
comments on the governor's latest appointment to the
Public Utility Commission:
I disagree with your evaluation. First, the
PUC is a key decisionmaker that directly affects
taxpayers pocketbooks. I for one would feel much more
comfortable with someone on the PUC who is at least
familiar with consumer concerns as opposed to the
usual political hacks and telecom/utility lobbyist
types. Could it be perceived as a stepping stone to
the PUC? Perhaps, but that's not exactly a prime
career path in any case. If you want to make money or
gain influence, there are surely easier ways to do it
than maneuver for a slot as Consumer Advocate, endure
years in that relatively thankless job and then ascend
to the PUC.
Well, I think that in the short term, or in a
particular case, mustering evidence to back a specific
move from consumer advocate to PUC member isn't
difficult. But in the long run, and as a matter of
policy, it still looks like a bad idea. Anyone who's been
around the PUC knows the insider, club-like atmosphere
that develops between the small group of professionals
who specialize in utilities' work. Public interest
advocates already see the Consumer Advocate as too much a
part of that club. The Consumer Advocate already has to
straddle that very thin line between PUC insider and
outside watchdog. It's a very difficult balancing act
which, in my view, is only complicated by dangling the
temptation of possible appointment to one of the
renewable six-year terms as commissioner.
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Sunrise this morning was truly spectacular,
and a good excuse to update the photo
gallery.
I'll hopefully get a chance to add a new
round of cats tomorrow.
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